Tommy Robinson joins the Tories – and no-one bats an eyelid

Tommy Robinson joins the Tories – and no-one bats an eyelid

From The Morning Star on Friday 13th December:

Anti-Islam activist ‘Tommy Robinson’ announces he’s joined the Tories

FAR-RIGHT businessman Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – infamous as “Tommy Robinson” – has announced that he has joined the Conservative Party following its general election victory.

In a message to his subscribers on Telegram, an online messaging service popular with the far right, Mr Yaxley-Lennon wrote: “OK, I have just joined the Conservative Party.

“Good work everyone that went out and voted for the Conservatives today.

“We have just thwarted our country becoming a socialist dump.”

The anti-Islam activist has also praised Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s adviser Dominic Cummings, telling him: “Your country salutes you.”

Mr Yaxley-Lennon was a founder member of the English Defence League, an anti-Islam street organisation, and was also an adviser to Ukip’s Gerard Batten when the latter led the hard-right party.

He was a supporter of Mr Johnson throughout the election campaign.

Yes, I’ve seen many of his earlier videos, and I’ve read his book ‘Enemy Of The State’, so I appreciate where he comes from, why he did what he does, and why he briefly joined the BNP and then set up the EDL. And yes, on these very pages I have shown support for him in the past.

But last year, he announced that he wanted to join UKIP, a party that he couldn’t join, because the BNP and EDL were both on the list of proscribed organisations.

As well as damaging UKIPs reputation – accusations of ‘lurching to the far-right’ etc – the membership became divided over the issue of whether the party rules should be amended to allow TR to join. UKIP literally tore itself apart.

Because of his association with TR, Gerard Batten was not allowed to stand in the leadership election earlier this year, but his ‘proxy’ Richard Braine won the contest, and then tried to further divide the party membership, after the party’s NEC refused to endorse his appointment of Mr Batten as deputy leader.

All manner of absurdities took place, including an invasion of the party head office to seize control of the party member mailing list and email accounts, and an attempt to sack the chairman, before Mr Braine was himself suspended from the party, and then later resigned his position.

This is the legacy that Tommy Robinson’s ‘intervention’ has had on UKIP.

Yet he wasn’t even allowed to join. UKIP got smeared as ‘racist’ and branded a ‘far-right’ party, for simply harbouring the notion that he ‘might’ be allowed to join.

But he is perfectly able to join the Conservative party, with no questions asked, and no faux-outrage from the mainstream media.

That is the point that everyone is missing.

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